2014 Colorado Snow Climbing Thread
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Thanks for the photos and info andy. Its amazing that they are still up sp late this year. |
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john sims wrote:Thanks for the photos and info andy. Its amazing that they are still up sp late this year.Oh, what up J Sims? You need to get out to the Western Slope to bag some late summer peaks. |
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Anybody been up to the Navajo / Apache snowfields lately? Looks pretty continuous, but i'm curios if it's going over to alpine ice yet and if it's not is it worth skiing / boarding. I don't wanna hump my deck back to find nothing but sastrugi and black ice. |
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A friend climbed up there last weekend and had this to say about Queen's Way couloir: |
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oh man thanks. haha climbing yes, but I think i like my life a little more than that to ski it. Unless I wanna go 90mph with no turns. |
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Anyone been up towards lambs slide recently? |
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Maximilian Ritter wrote:Anyone been up towards lambs slide recently?Still good snow as of today. Some ice towards the sides and plenty of rocks in the snow though. Quick and easy climbing, wouldn't want to ski it. |
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Yeah I was being hoepful and silly to think riding was good and safe in apart October. Haha I know but but the jones is happening |
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Thanks Eric, too choppy to ski or what? |
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Maximilian Ritter wrote:Thanks Eric, too choppy to ski or what?Choppy/cupped, lots of rock, small patches of ice here and there. Who knows though, after the next couple days of weather it might have a nice fresh layer on top! |
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Lambslide and lower east face of Long's, 9/26/14.
Looked like an inch of snow covering Longs and Meeker this morning down to 12k from last night's storm. Forecast is for a few more inches the next 24hrs up there so sloughing could happen and it seems warm enough that bonding could be good between old and new snow layers. Kieners was in good shape w/ neve snow and AI2 in Lambslide, loose rock entering Broadway, dry to the summit with 1-2" of snow and some ice covering 50% of the North Face descent and 5.4 rappel pitch (50m) covered w/1" ice. It's relatively warm up there at the moment and not not a cold storm so ice formation may be minimal and this could just be an extra shot of snow to melt into ice in the near future? |
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Ptarmigan Fingers couloir snow was surprisingly solid. We went up expecting mostly ice, but the wind crust on top of a foot (+/-) of consolidated snow made for excellent step kicking. I didn't notice significant crystallization or depth hoar (yet!), so apparently the night temps are not yet cold enough to cause a large temperature gradiant across the snowpack, or else the snow was simply too fresh. |
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Went up the same route on Monday, 6 October 2014. Fantastic climbing! |